Toy and game apparatus



March 29, 1960 s. E. GLlNTZ TOY AND GAME APPARA'IIIUS Filed Aug. 1, 1957Georgia E. Glfnfz INVENTOR TOY AYD GAME APPARATUS Georgia E. Glintz, DesMoines, Iowa Application August 1, 1957, Serial No. 675,615

I 1 crane. c1. 273-96) ,The present invention generally relates to a toyor game apparatus which may be employed by a single child,

two children or a group of children and also may be employed by any ageperson for use in amusing themselves or in playing a game in which thecoordination of muscles is developed and certain skills in the judgmentof distances are developed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a toy and gameapparatus incorporating a ball and means for projecting and receivingthe ball with such means incorporating a receptacle or cup strapped tothe wrist of a player so that the cup faces upwardly from the back ofthe wrist or hand with the interior of the cup being provided with aresilient material in the bottom for causing the ball to bounce out ofthe cup when it is received within the cup thus providing a highly noveland entertaining toy or game apparatus which may be employed in manyuses for playing various types of games and for developing variousskills.

Other objects of the present invention will reside in its simplicity ofconstruction, ease of assembly and disassembly on the player and itsadaptation for many and varied uses.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the apparatus of the presentinvention employed by a pair of players for playing a game;

Figure 2 is a detailed sectional view taken substantially upon a planepassing through the longitudinal center of the game apparatus of thepresent invention; and

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon a planepassing along section line 3-3 of Figure 2 illustrating the base of thecup and the manner in which the wrist strap is secured thereto.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral generallydesignates the toy or game apparatus of the present invention. The toyor game apparatus includes a generally cylindrical cup 12 having an openupper end 14 and a closed lower end 16 joined to the cylindrical portion12 by an outwardly curved lower portion 18. Disposed within the lowerportion of the cup 12 is an insert of resilient material 20 with theupper surface of the resilient material 20 being spaced considerablybelow the upper end 14 for substantially receiving a spherical ball 22within the cup 12. As shown in Figure 2, the insert 20 has a thicknesssubstantially less than the length of the cup 12. Also, the ball 22 isslightly less in diameter than the internal diameter of the cup 12.

The bottom 16 of the cup 12 is provided with a cushion of resilientmaterial 24. Also, the bottom 16 is provided with a pair of spacedparallel slots 26 extending therethrough for receiving a portion of aflexible strap or 2,930,618 Patented-Mar. -29, 196Q band 28 which isprovided with a buckle 30 for detachably securing the free ends of theband 28 together.

By employing the band or strap 28, the receptacle '12 may be strapped tothe wrist 32 of a player 34 with the receptacle 12 facing in the samedirection as the back of the hand. Thus, the receptacle 12 will befacing upwardly when the arm is held straight out with the palm of thehand facing downwardly whereby the open end of the cup 14 will face awayfrom the backof the wrist 32. The cushioning material 24 will render thedevice more comfortable to the player 34 inasmuch as thebottom 16 of thecup 12 as well as the entire cup 12 may be constructed of relativelyrigid material such as plastic, metal, wood or the like. The cushionmaterial 24 may be foam rubber or similar material and the band '28 maybe an elastic fabric band. Any suitable type of buckle or clasp may beprovided for adjusting the effective length of the band 28.

In practical use of the present invention, a single small child mayemploy the device by having it fastened to his wrist whereby he can tossa ball into the cup with his opposite hand and the ball will bounce backto his hand from the cup. The return bounce and the direction thereofmay be controlled by the player by manipulating the cup as to angularposition and as to how the cup is moved in relation to the ball when theball enters the cup. Thus, the child will develop coordination betweenhis hands and will develop skill in judging distances by judging thedistance between the opposite hand and the cup. Another way of using thedevice is to have the cup fastened to the wrist and throw the ball upagainst a building wall or the like so that when the ball bounces offthe wall and comes back it is caught in the cup and the ball willimmediately bounce out and may be directed back against the wall bydirecting the movement of the wrist. By increasing the rate of bouncingagainst the wall and into the cup, the player or players may developcertain skills of coordination. Also, older children may play with thedevice in the form of a game wherein teams are chosen and the ball maybe thrown from player to player on the same team thus preventing theother team from tak ing possession of the ball. If the ball continues tobe bounced'from one cup to the other of the same team and the ball isnever allowed to touch anything but the cup, the same team may retainpossession thereof. Howthe ball is projected in the cup 12 with thehands not coming into contact with the ball.

With the toy and game apparatus of the present invention manyinteresting and entertaining games may be played with the gamesdeveloping certain skills, techniques and coordination of the playerswhether they are playing individually or as a team thereby affording ahighly desirable toy or game apparatus.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A game apparatus comprising a wrist attachedcupshaped member having acircular cross-section throughout itsdength, :said member having an openend defined by a peripheral edge disposed in a single transverse plane,the other end of said member being closed and tapering inwardly, saidclosed end having a pair of spaced and.iparallelslots,therethrough, anelongated strap threaded through .=said slots, :bucklemeans detachablyand adiustably interconnecting the'free endsof said strap formaintaining the strap in Wristencircling relation, the .closedJencl ofsaid member being circular and having ,a

diameter less thanthe-diameter otthe open. end thereby presentingfla.flat areaengaging the flat portion of the back ofthewrist etaperson'usingthe device, a relatively thin cushion of resilientmaterialon theouter surface of iheclosed endrfor engaging the wristzforcushioning said member, a generally semi-spherical resilientinsertdisposed within the bottom of saidmember, said inserthav- 7 ing .:alongitudinal thickness substantially less than the lengthofsaid member,and a sphericalball having .a diameter :slightly :less than "theinternal :diameter of the member -for reception therein whereby saidinsert will bounce the ball back out of said member when thrown againstsaid resilient insert, the diameter of said ball being less than thedistance from the open end of said membet to the face of the insertwhereby a portion of the periphery of the ball will project beyond theopen end when received in the cup-shaped member, the slightly lessdiameter of the ball in relation to the internal diameter of thecup-shaped member requiring accurate alignment of the cup-shaped memberwith the ball when receiving the ball therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

